Coco Gauff has reached another French Open semi-final after knocking fellow American Madison Keys out of the Grand Slam.
WTA Tour number two Gauff, the second seed at Roland Garros, defeated seventh seed Keys 6-7(6-8), 6-4, 6-1.
Gauff has been tipped to win the French Open, with either Mirra Andreeva or Lois Boisson now awaiting her in the semi-finals.
Sam Querrey favoured Gauff over Keys ahead of their quarter-final, and that outcome played out via an intriguing battle.
Gauff is now looking to secure a second French Open final, having lost at that stage to Iga Swiatek in 2022.
What Coco Gauff thinks of Madison Keys’ forehand after beating her at the French Open
She will now turn her focus to another semi-final, but the American was tasked with analysing her latest win on court.
There, she was asked the question: “What’s it like to face Madison with that forehand? Every time you go to the forehand there’s a risk that she hits a winner.”
READ MORE: Coco Gauff says what she thinks of Joao Fonseca as a tennis player after his rise on the ATP Tour
Gauff replied: “Yeah, exactly what you said. She is obviously a very great player and her forehand is probably one of the best, if not the best on tour, so I was just trying my best to get it on the other side of the court.
“She has a great inside out and inside in forehand so honestly I knew that I just had to be able to run today and as soon as the ball came short just to punish her for it.”
Coco Gauff says how the closed roof impacted her semi-final with Madison Keys
The conditions in Paris led to the closure of the roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier, which played host to Gauff’s sixth meeting with Keys.
She has now levelled their WTA head-to-head to 3-3, claiming her first win over compatriot Keys since 2023.
Sharing her thoughts on the closed roof, the victor commented: “My last match was warmer so I was playing with a lower tension today and I went down 4-1 and then I changed it and it went to 5-4 so I don’t know if it had anything to do with that.
“It’s difficult to find the tension and how you want to play. It’s a bit colder today. But honestly I thought with the roof closed it would play slower which it did in some moments but I felt it was kind of quick too, but I was playing Madison so I don’t know if that was the reason it felt so fast today.”
In a show of real resilience, the 21-year-old came from behind to edge past the more experienced Australian Open champion.
Aryna Sabalenka is also into the final four at Roland Garros, with the WTA number one taking on four-time champion Iga Swiatek.
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